1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to portable baby sanitizers for cleansing a baby's bottom, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a portable device, which has a pressurizable chamber, that upon demand, will dispense a multiplicity of liquid streams onto, and in order to cleanse and treat diaper rash on, a baby's bottom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ever since the convenient use of diapers to control and contain infant waste, a great concern for parents and caretakers alike has been diaper rash. Unfortunately, diaper rash is a common result of wearing diapers and may be caused by any number of reasons. The most general reason for diaper rash is commonly referred to as a friction rash, which is caused by the constant rubbing of the diaper against the infant's skin. The most pronounced areas affected by friction rash are where the elastic of the diapers are too tight. Luckily, this type of rash is quickly curable by frequent diaper changing, airing out of the infant's skin and the use of protective barriers.
There are, however, more severe types of diaper rash that are less easily treatable. These other types of diaper rash, to name a few, include irritant rash, allergic rash, Intertrigo and Seborrhea rash. Particularly, irritant rash is usually caused by prolonged exposure of the infant's skin to stool enzymes. Ironically, a parent or caretaker will generally treat this rash with harsh soaps, baby wipes, detergents or topical medicines that in turn are irritants to the infant. Thus, a concerned parent who is trying to clean the effected area is actually causing more irritation to the infant. As a result, the infant's outer most layer of skin becomes even more damaged.
Once the infant is re-diapered, and because the effected area is concealed from the parent's view, the rash will continue to develop and worsen as the effected area comes into contact with the infant's fecal matter and urine. Since the protective layer of skin has been breached it is inevitable that microorganisms such as yeast or bacteria will eventually invade the damaged skin.
Since the infant's skin has been tainted with microorganisms the rash will be less responsive to the usual treatments. Continuing to air dry the infant's skin is helpful, but having the infant without a diaper on for extended amounts of time presents the problem that the infant may make a mess, which is unsanitary and difficult to clean up. Applying over-the-counter creams to the rash is also a helpful treatment, but in view of the fact that the infant's skin is extremely sensitive, due to the rash, rubbing the cream onto the effected areas of the infant's skin may cause the infant additional pain and suffering. Yet another helpful remedy in treating this more severe type of rash is to wash the infant's skin with warm water or with a mixture of warm water and baking soda. Although this seems to be the most soothing remedy for the infant, it requires the time consuming task of drawing a bath each and every time the diaper is changed, which every parent and caretaker knows is more than quite frequent.
Therefore, it should come as a surprise that a portable baby sanitizer has not been developed and constructed heretofore in the prior art so as to dispense a soothing liquid mixture onto an infant's bottom for the purpose of treating diaper rash. Because a device like this is not in the prior art, it would be desirable to provide a device like this to parents and caretakers of infants.
A prior art search directed to the subject matter of this application in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revealed the following Letters Patent:
3,808,6083,916,4534,340,9805,090,0675,335,855Des. 378,697
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,608 to Caplan issued on May 7, 1974, there is disclosed a bidet-like device which is used in connection with a standard toilet. The device comprises a water holding reservoir and an electric motor which drives a pump that discharges water through a single flexible conduit onto an individual's underside. The reservoir and electric motor sits on the top surface of the toilet tank while the flexible conduit runs down the length of the toilet tank and clips onto the seat of the toilet.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,067 to Cogdill issued on Feb. 25, 1992, a bidet apparatus associated with a conventional toilet is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a water tank with an immersion heater, a flexible conduit with a single spray head and a pump. The water tank is located along the exterior side of the toilet water tank with the flexible conduit being connected from the water tank to the toilet seat and provides a single stream of spray generated from the pump.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,980 to Fushimi et al. issued on Jul. 27, 1982, there is disclosed a water closet with topical body washer mechanism. The mechanism includes a water warmer mounted on the water closet and a spout pipe for spraying warm water onto the underside of a user.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,855 to Borod issued on Aug. 9, 1994, there is disclosed a hygienic spray bottle. The hygienic spray apparatus includes a storage container, a spray bottle, an air pump, a manual valve, a discharge port and a pickup tube. The air pump is manually operated to create pressure within the storage container. When the manual valve is released a pressurized liquid is forced through a selectable single discharge hole via the discharge port.
The remaining patents, listed above but not specifically discussed, are deemed to be only of general interest and show the state of the art in bidet-like devices and portable, pump-activated hygienic cleaners.
None of the prior art discussed above discloses a portable baby sanitizer like that of the present invention which provides a portable baby sanitizer that is capable of dispensing pressurized liquids, particularly medicaments for diaper rash, onto a baby's bottom while the baby is in a seated position.